Remember that for the timeout penalty to be effective, it must be unpleasant for your child. Also, timeout does not work well after you have lost your temper and/or yelled at the child. You need to be calm, cool , and collected yourself when administering a timeout.
Also keep in mind that you are not trying to frighten your child into submission. You are trying to:
- Put an immediate halt to an inappropriate behavior.
- Take away something (freedom and attention) that your child wants.
Choose your timeout location in advance of the time you need it. When a child is misbehaving, you want to be able to stop the behavior immediately, not make a decision about where to send the child.
Choose your timeout location in advance of the time you needit.
Your Home
- Choose a location where you can send your child every time you must invoke timeout.
- Choose a boring spot away from all action and any attention from other family members.
- Choose a location that can be reached quickly.
Try not to use the following places:
- Basements or dark closets: These places are too scary to be used for timeout.
- Kitchens or bathrooms: Too many potentially dangerous objects in these areas, such as knives, poisons, hot water, etc.
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The child’s bedroom
- It’s never a good idea to reinforce the idea that there is something bad about the bedroom. You also don’t want to associate punishment with a place your child sleeps. Besides, there are usually too many fun things to do in his or her bedroom for the choice to be a punishment.
Home of Others
When visiting others, use a porch, a hallway, or the back yard.
Public Places
A restroom or even your car will work in a public place.
Don’t leave your child alone in a public place. Although you’ll still ignore him and withhold your attention, keep him well in sight.
Caution
If your child suffers from separation anxiety when you leave her, use a time-out spot that is not isolated from you.
Again, you are not trying to scare your child, only provide him/her with a place to get unacceptable behavior under control.
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